and what we may see from john kerry is perhaps more focused diplomacy. certainly he has a lot of experience on the syria front. in the past he has worked, and i've written about this, as an informal envoy for the united states in afghanistan and elsewhere. and he'll be hankering for that kind of role where he can make a difference in some of these conflicts. there is a sense my sense from talking to people in washington is that president obama would like to pivot to asia but there is no doubt that he'll remain bogged down in one way or another in the middle east and north africa as we've seen in the past few days has become a major problem. that's where we'll see senator kerry head pretty soon. >> michael: let's talk about north africa, at least 35 people were killed when the islamists took hostage at the bp facility. is this another area we have to worry about al-qaeda. we talk about it with mali and somalia as well. is this a concern. >> the al-qaeda affiliate in north africa is well-known to mideast watchers and analysts. it has not gotten the attenti